In 1940 the Handschy Chemical Company was founded. The company produced mainly commercial printing ink. Printing inks for printmaking arts were a fraction of the total production.

In 2009 Handschy Industries (as it was now going to be called) was sold to Sun Chemical. Sun Chemical is a major player in the market for printing inks. An employee of Handschy had no desire to move along to Sun Chemical and began to explore the possibilities to move independently under the name Hanco, and, focusing on the "niche market" of printing inks for printmaking. This employee suspected that the printmaking inks under Sun Chemical would not get the attention they deserved. He was also worried that the reputation of Hanschy inks would be lost. Along with other former employees of Hanschy the old production formulas were reinstated and production began again in 2010. Today Hanco is the fastest growing company in the US, in this specialized area of ink manufacturing.

There is a difference with other ink manufacturers; Hanco has the ability to focus entirely on the needs of the printmaking market . Some other manufacturers have fewer options because they specialize mainly in offset printing inks and within that framework also produce inks for printmaking.